Whiskey Lullaby
by LittleMrsAdams
Summary: Songfic oneshot. Harry and Ginny's marraige falls apart. All warnings at the beginning of the story, please read them all. Character death


**WARNINGS- SUICIDE/CHARACTER DEATH! Also, copious use of alcohol along with some drug use. This is not a happy fic! Canon events except that Epic Fail of an epilogue doesn't happen. Also, this is part of a series of songfic oneshots, this one is set to the lyrics of 'Whiskey Lullaby' by Brad Paisley featuring Alison Krauss. This fic follows fairly closely to the music video for the song, if you would like to watch it, it can be found on youtube at http : / www . you tube . com / watch?v = d Yub 1 ne LZ mA just take out the spaces. If any of these things bother you, hit the back button now! Once again- Character Death/Suicide warning! If you skip this warning and read anyway and then complain that you didn't realize what the fic would contain I will be...displeased.**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter or the song 'Whiskey Lullaby' and I make no money from writing this.**

_Lyrics from the song are in Italics_

Harry walked into the home he shared with his wife of five years, Ginny Potter nee Weasley. He had been away for the last eight months, chasing down a band of Dark Wizards who had been wreaking havoc across England and then moved on to the Continent. He had been part of a small international team of Aurors put together to solve the problem before it got worse.

They had finally caught the man who was supposed to be the leader of the Dark Wizards a few days ago, and Harry was just now able to go home due to all the de-briefings he had to endure. Harry didn't tell Ginny that he was coming home, mostly because he wasn't sure when he would be home, and he wanted to surprise his wife. He went straight for their master bedroom when he saw no sign of Ginny in the living room or kitchen, and could hear faint noises coming from the room beyond. He opened the door and immediately wished he hadn't.

Harry didn't recognize the mostly naked man sitting on the bed with a scantily clad Ginny sitting on his lap, their lips locked together. He must have made some kind of sound, because the two people on the bed broke their kiss and turned to look at the door where Harry was frozen in shock.

"Harry, I...It's not what it looks like..." Ginny said, looking like a deer caught in the headlights and trying desperately to make up some kind of feeble excuse for her compromising position.

"Not what it looks like? So it's just my imagination that I came home to find you fucking some man in our bed?

_She put him out like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette_

Ginny looked embarrassed by Harry's harsh, but accurate, assessment of the situation.

"Harry... I don't... love you anymore. I...I've found someone else..."

Harry had nothing to say to that, as he was still in a state of shock. He just gave a snort of humorless laughter, spun on his heel and left the house.

_She broke his heart he spent his whole life tryin' to forget_

_We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time_

After Harry left the house, he went to a nearby Muggle liquor store. One mild Confundus Charm later, found him holed up in No. 12 Grimmauld Place, nursing a bottle of expensive whiskey that was from a case he had purchased at the liquor store. The first bottle did little for his desire to drink away the pain and betrayal away, and it was only after about four or five bottles that Harry simply passed out on the couch.

Harry soon found that it took far too much Muggle whiskey to get drunk and started sending Kreacher out to buy bottles of Fire-whiskey instead, after that he spent all of his time in a drunken haze. He sent in an owl with his resignation from the Auror Corps within a few days. The days blurred into weeks and the weeks into months, but nothing that Harry's friends did could pull him from the alcohol.

Now, that's not to say that Harry was anti-social, on the contrary Harry could often be found at parties. Sadly, he was always accompanied by a bottle of Old Ogden's Fire-Whiskey and usually left with some random woman that he had just met. The tabloids had a field day with Harry's behavior and speculation ran rampant as to what caused the sudden rift between what had appeared to be a seemingly happy couple. Not that it mattered much since anyone close to Harry shared any information and most of the women that Harry took home kept their mouths shut about what went on once they left with Harry. Thought there were a few that were willing to sell their stories for fifteen minutes of fame, but they were mostly about how miserable that the savior of the wizarding world truly was.

_But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mindUntil the night_

Things continued in this fashion for a little over a year before a party on New Years Eve pushed Harry over the edge. He had been dancing with some woman that he didn't know the name of when Ginny and that same man that Harry had caught her with. He tried his best to ignore the couple, but he found it very difficult and soon left the party alone.

_He put that bottle to his head and pulled the triggerAnd finally drank away her memory_

Back at Grimmauld Place, Harry locked himself in his bedroom with a bottle of fire-whiskey that he had managed to charm to refill itself. He tried desperately to drown out the renewed pain, but it was no use. At some point, he found it in himself to write one sentence on a spare piece of parchment that he clung to for the rest of his binge. Harry didn't notice or care about how many times the bottle had refilled itself; all he cared about was the comforting, all consuming darkness that surrounded him as he fell onto the bed.

_Life is short but this time it was biggerThan the strength he had to get up off his kneesWe found him with his face down in the pillowWith a note that said I'll love her till I die_

The next morning, Ron and Hermione floo'ed over to Grimmauld Place to see how Harry was holding up. They searched every room in the house before reaching the top floor where the master bedroom was located. The sight that met them was one they both would remember until their dying days. The room was a shambles with furniture tipped over and articles of clothing and bedding thrown about. Harry was laying face-down with his legs hanging over the edge of the bed; the bottle of fire-whiskey lying beside him, the contents staining the bed a sickly brown color.

They were both rather worried at this point. Ron had often come over and found Harry passed out in various locations throughout the house, but the room had never been in a state like this before and Harry was usually sitting up or lying on his back. Plus, there was a feeling in the room that sent chills of apprehension down both Ron and Hermione's spines.

The couple picked their way over to the bed, calling Harry's name; trying wake him to no avail. They made it to the bed, and each put a hand on one of Harry's shoulders to try and shake him awake just to pull their hands away in shock. His body was ice-cold, and Ron and Hermione both felt panic rising. They both proceeded to check for a pulse and respiration only to find nothing. Hermione began to cast Reviving spells, to no avail, while Ron got paler and paler looking as if he were either going to cry or be ill or both.

He finally pulled himself together enough to pull his wife away from Harry, who she was now trying to give Muggle CPR to while tears were silently streaming down her face.

"'Mione...stop...we're too late..."

"NO! Don't say it Ronald! We're not too late! We can save him, we can bring him back! Don't tell me we're too late!" Her voice grew shriller with each word, until it cracked and ended in a sob.

Ron's voice was rough with unshed tears as he tried to bring Hermione out of her hysterics.

"I'm sorry love, but he's gone. Not even magic can bring him back now."

Hermione let out a noise between a sob and a scream and broke down completely in her husbands arms while Ron's own body shook with his own silent tears. After an undetermined amount of time, they broke apart and went back over to the bed, tears still falling and 'should have's' and 'if only's' running through their minds. Hermione reached down and gently took Harry's cold hand, stroking it carefully and found the crumpled piece of parchment that he had basically written his last words on. She let out another sob when she read the single sentence, 'I'll love her till I die', that was written upon it.

_And when we buried him beneath the willowThe angels sang a whiskey lullaby_

Soon after that, they managed to pull themselves together enough to fire-call St. Mungo's; which responded almost immediately. Hermione broke down again as she watched the medical teams try and revive her friend with the exact same results that she had gotten. They took his body away, and within the next few hours the newspapers had spread the news to the entire Wizarding world that their Savior had died.

The funeral was held in the same family plot that his parent's had been buried in, and his grave was under the shade of a large willow tree. Nearly the entire Wizarding world had turned out to pay their last respects and numerous speeches were made, both by those who knew Harry well (like Ron and Neville) and those who did not (various political figure-heads).

No one really noticed the figure dressed in black (just like everyone else) standing in the shadows, holding a red rose. The person waited for the service to be over and for everyone to leave before approaching the casket and placing the flower on top. A small feminine hand caressed the closed lid of the coffin, and with that, Ginny Potter nee Weasley Disapparated; swearing to herself that she could hear a sweet and sad song playing somewhere.

_The rumors flew but nobody knew how much she blamed herselfFor years and years she tried to hide the whiskey on her breath_

Ever since the day that she had pushed Harry out of her life, Ginny had regretted it deeply. Almost as soon as Harry had left the house, Ginny whished desperately that she could take back the words that had broken his heart; for they were completely untrue. However, shame and pride had kept her from doing so. She had never cheated on Harry before then, and she didn't fully understand why she had done so then.

Ginny had stayed with the man that Harry had found her with, but soon discovered that under the charming and debonair exterior, was something much darker and frightening. Things had started out started out well enough but soon things began to change. It started as rougher sex, but it didn't take long for things to get rough outside the bedroom as well and soon Ginny was using Glamour's and makeup to hide the bruises.

She never tried to leave the man, or let anyone know about what was happening. Part of the reason why she never complained was because she was ashamed of herself for allowing it to happen, but mostly it was because she felt that she deserved it because of the way she had hurt Harry. She often used liquor and occasionally Muggle drugs to try and help with her emotional and physical pain.

Ginny steadfastly ignored the rumors that flew both before and after Harry's death, refusing to comment on them. When she had heard what had been found in Harry's hand and his will had been read, Ginny had regretted her actions even more than she had before. Apparently, Harry had gone to Gringotts and had designated Teddy Lupin as his heir, but had also left a tidy sum of money and some property to her. It also stated that he wished for Ginny to be buried beside him in the Potter family cemetery. She had waited until she was back in her home before she had broken down in tears of regret.

_She finally drank her pain away a little at a timeBut she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mindUntil the night_

Soon after those revelations, Ginny's alcohol and drug use increased, until she could no longer tell what was real and what came from her imagination. Every intimate act that happened, whether it be the violent tendencies of the man she refused to leave or the sexual aspect of their relationship (which was also violent), Ginny would see Harry's face in her drug and alcohol addled mind. Often Ginny would hallucinate that Harry was still there with her, even when she was alone, but when the images would fade, she was left with a pain deeper than before.

Eventually, the man that wasn't Harry decided that he was no longer interested in Ginny and left, and what little restraint she had snapped. Her drug and alcohol use increased, and her family had no idea how to pull her from the depression she had fallen into, much like Harry had. She refused to get help, insisting that this was her punishment for driving Harry away.

_She put that bottle to her head and pulled the triggerAnd finally drank away his memoryLife is short but this time it was biggerThan the strength she had to get up off her knees _

Finally things became too much for Ginny. One evening, she pulled down a box of things that Harry had left behind. She rummaged through the box until she found the she had been looking for; a Wizarding photo she had taken of Harry during his sixth year at Hogwarts of him lying under a tree by the Black Lake, his hands under his head with his eyes closed and the most peaceful expression on his face. Ginny simply stared at the photo for a long time before she broke down crying, wishing to the heavens that Harry was still there with her.

Although she had know in her mind that Harry was never going to return, something about looking at that photo made her realize it deep in her heart that her Harry was never going to come back. With that epiphany came another; if Harry couldn't come back to her, then she would go to where ever Harry was. Yes, that seemed to be the perfect solution. Tomorrow was a Saturday, and her mother and father came every Saturday morning to speak with her.

With this in mind, Ginny penned a note to her family explaining everything from why she had driven Harry away to why she had to join him now. She then penned another letter stating that all of her possessions were to go to her parents and siblings to do with as they saw fit. When she was finished, Ginny retrieved every pain potion that she owned and brought them into the bedroom along with a bottle of very strong Fire-Whiskey. She sat on her bed and held onto Harry's photo with one hand while she began downing potions and Whiskey with the other.

All too soon, or not soon enough, Ginny felt numbing darkness creeping up on her. Her last thought as she fell back onto the bed as the darkness took over was 'I'm coming Harry, please forgive me'.

_We found her with her face down in the pillowClinging to his picture for dear life_

The next morning, Author and Molly Weasley did indeed floo to their daughter's home. They stepped out of the kitchen fireplace and quickly spotted the letters that Ginny had written the previous night. As they read, both grew extremely pale and by the end Molly was frantic to reach her little girl. Molly raced up the stairs to Ginny's bedroom with Author close behind, both hoping that they weren't too late. However, one look at the room and both parents knew that they were indeed too late.

Molly practically flew to Ginny's still form and tried frantically to wake her, to no avail. She then pulled her daughter into her arms, letting out a loud wail and rocking her back and forth. Author stood frozen on the spot, unable to fully comprehend that their daughter had killed herself. He somehow managed to pull himself out of his stupor to fire-call St. Mungo's even though he knew that there was nothing they could do.

When the emergency team arrived, Molly refused to let go of Ginny and in the end, the medical team had to sedated her the Muggle way. They quickly confirmed what Molly and Author already knew; that Ginny was dead.

As they went to take her body through the floo to St. Mungo's, the picture that Ginny had been holding the night before fell from her grasp and fluttered to the ground. Without really thinking, Author picked it up and smiled ruefully at it, thinking about how one ill conceived decision had torn apart their family.

_We laid her next to him beneath the willowWhile the angels sang a whiskey lullaby_

As per Harry's request, Ginny was laid to rest beside him. The funeral was much smaller this time, with only family and friends being present. The ceremony was also much shorter, as no government officials were there to add their opinions of the deceased and just a few friends saying a few words.

When it was over and everyone was leaving, Molly had to be supported out by Author and Bill, Luna Lovegood turned to say one final goodbye to the girl she considered to be her best friend. As she stood there and watched the two graves silently, a sense of peace washed over her and even though her physical eyes could not see anything, she somehow knew that both Harry and Ginny were nearby watching.

Luna smiled softly as she turned to leave, listening to the sad, sweet and somehow comforting song playing somewhere in the distance.

**A/N- Just so everyone knows, I do not condone any of the actions the characters took in this story. It is just my way of venting some of the stress currently happening in my life. Suicide is not the answer to any kind of problem and neither is drug or alcohol use. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. If you or any one you know of is suffering from depression or suicidal thoughts or tendencies, I urge you to seek professional help. Also, if you or anyone you know is in an abusive relationship, I ask that you should seek help for that situation as well.**

**I would very much appreciate it if you would press the little review button and let me know what you think!**


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